Infusion packages and corresponding manufacturing methods

ABSTRACT

A method of manufacturing an infusion package  10  comprising a porous-walled container  12  for an infusible substance and a support for the container by means of which the container can be mounted on a rim of a drinking vessel. The method comprises (i) making cuts in at least one web of a semi-rigid material in a direction transverse to the web length to define a plurality of support members  14,  each cut defining a first end  16  of one support member and a second end  20  of an adjacent support member such that the first end includes a projection  18  and the second end includes a recess  22  the cutting of which recess produces the projection; (ii) bringing two such support members into opposed relationship with the first end of one of the support members disposed opposite the second end of the other of the support members; (iii) positioning an end region of the container between the opposed support members; and (iv) securing that end region to the support members.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to infusion packages and particularly, but notexclusively, to infusion packages for coffee and to the manufacture ofsuch packages.

Conventional infusion packages for tea or coffee comprise aporous-walled container into which has been charged the tea or coffee.In use such containers are immersed in hot liquid such as water. It isknown to suspend an open container such as a bag in the liquid and thishas been achieved using a hanging string. In other arrangements a filterbag is provided with holding members which enable the filter by to besupported from the rim of a container for the hot liquid. One sucharrangement is described in EP-A-0463181. These known arrangement can bedifficult to use and not straightforward to manufacture.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides a method of manufacturing an infusion packagecomprising a porous-walled container for an infusible substance and asupport for said container by means of which the container can bemounted on a rim of a drinking vessel, said method comprising (i) makingcuts in at least one web of a semi-rigid material in a directiontransverse to the web length to define a plurality of support members,each said cut defining a first end of one said support member and asecond end of an adjacent said support member such that said first endincludes a projection and said second end includes a recess the cuttingof which recess produces said projection; (ii) bringing two said supportmembers into opposed relationship with the first end of one said supportmember disposed opposite the second end of the other said member; (iii)positioning an end region of a said container between said opposedsupport members; and (iv) securing said end region to said opposedsupport members.

The invention also includes an infusion package comprising a semi-porouscontainer for an infusible material and a support for said container,said support being secured to an end of said container so as to bepivotable between first, use, positions wherein the support projectsgenerally upwardly of said container and second, non-use, positions inwhich the support is disposed alongside said container.

The invention also includes an infusion package comprising a porouswalled container for an infusible substance and a support by which saidcontainer can be mounted on a rim of an drinking vessel, said supportcomprising two oppositely disposed members to which said container isattached such that, in use, it is suspended therefrom and each having aprojection at one end thereof and a correspondingly shaped recess at anopposite end thereof, and said members being such that said projectionsproject from opposite ends of said support.

The invention also includes an infusion package comprising a containerfor an infusible material and a support for said container having aprojection at each end thereof by which the support can be seated on arim of a drinking vessel, said support being defined by two supportmembers disposed in opposed relationship and secured to one another atsaid ends and at least one of said supports having a zone of weaknesswhereby said support can be caused to deflect away from the other saidsupport to provide an opening between said support members leading to anopen end of said container.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

In order that the invention may be well understood, some embodimentsthereof, which are given by way of example only, will now be describedwith reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an infusion package;

FIG. 2 is an end view of the infusion package;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a W-section web of heat sealable porousmaterial from which the bag portion of the package is made;

FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view of the infusion package in use;

FIG. 5 is a cutaway view of a sachet containing the infusion package ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of two webs illustrating a method of making thesupport members of the infusion package of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of an alternative support for an infusionpackage; and

FIG. 8 a plan view of a web illustrating a method of making the supportshown in FIG. 7.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 5, an infusion package 10 comprises a container12 and support for the container. The support comprises two supportmembers 14 by means of which the container can be mounted on a rim of adrinking vessel such as a mug or cup 15 as shown in FIG. 4.

The support elements each consist of a strip of plastics coated boardand are disposed opposite one another. Each support member is notched atone of its ends 16 to define a projection 18. The projection 18 lies inthe plane of the support member and projects in the lengthwise directionof the member perpendicular to the end 16.

At the end 20 of the support members opposite the end 16, there is arecess 22. The recesses 22 are aligned with and correspond in shape tothe respective projections 18.

As described in more detail hereinbelow, the support members are sealedto one another and to the container 12. The arrangement of the supportmembers is such that the end 16 of one member is disposed opposite theend 20 of the other member so that the respective projections project inopposite directions.

Each support member has a score-line 24 in the inward facing one of itsmajor surfaces. The score-lines are disposed midway between the ends 16,20 and extend perpendicular to the lengthwise direction of the memberand parallel to the ends 16, 20.

The container is in the form of an open-ended sack, or bag, 12. The bagcomprises a web of porous heat sealable material, which is folded toproduce a cross-section, which is generally W-shaped as shown in FIG. 3.The long sides 30 of the W are sealed to each other by edge seals 32(FIG. 1) which extend from the upper to the lower end of the bag. Theedge seals are interconnected by transverse seals 34 running along thelower end of the bag. The lower corners are rounded as shown at 35 inorder to minimise drippage of liquid from the bag. The transverse sealsrun in parallel and are made between the internal surfaces 36 of thecentral portion of the W and the opposed surfaces of the long sides 30.The transverse seals do not seal the external surfaces 38 of the centralportion to one another. This sealing arrangement provides the bag withan inwardly directed gusset at its lower end, which increases the volumeof the bag. This can be seen in FIG. 2 which shows that the bag is widerat its lower end than at the upper end where it is joined to the supportmembers.

The upper, open, end of the bag is sandwiched between the supportmembers. The external surfaces of the bag at the open end are secured tothe opposed inwardly facing surfaces of the support members 14 in anarrangement which, as best seen in FIG. 4, leaves the bag open at theupper end. The support members 14 are sealed to one another at theirends 16, 20 by respective edge seals which extend parallel to thescore-lines 24. As shown in FIG. 5, the width w of the edge seals isgreater than the depth d of the recesses 22.

The bag 12 contains an infusible material such as tea or coffee. Whenthe infusible material is coffee, it is preferable that the package issupplied in a hermetically sealed sachet 40 as shown in FIG. 5. Thesachet may be in the form of a standard pillow pack as illustrated. Theinfusion package is packed in the sachet with the support members foldedover so that it is disposed alongside the upper end of the bag 12. Thishas the advantages that the size of sachet required is reduced and theopen end of the bag is effectively closed so that the coffee will notspill out in transit.

In use, the bag is removed from the sachet and the support members arefolded upwardly to bring the infusion package into the condition shownin FIG. 1. A compressive force is applied to the ends of the supportmember causing the members to bow outwardly in the region of thescore-lines 24. As shown in FIG. 4, the result is that the supportmembers adopt a diamond configuration allowing the projections 18 toseat on the rim of a drinking vessel 15. In addition, the bowing of thesupport members opens the upper end of the bag and provides an openingthrough which water can be poured onto the coffee contained in the bag.It will be appreciated that the compressibility of the support membersprovides the additional advantage that the support can be manipulated tofit drinking vessels of varying diameters.

Manufacture of the support members will now be described with referenceto FIG. 6. In a preferred arrangement, the supports are made fromsupport members taken from two webs 50, 52.

The support members are produced by making transverse cuts 54 in the webat intervals corresponding to the desired length of the support members.The transverse cuts extend from one side of the web to the other andeach defines the end 16 of one member and the end 20 of the followingmember so that the projection 18 of one member is produced by the cutwhich also produces the recess of the next member. It will beappreciated that this arrangement allows the production of the supportmembers without any material wastage.

The webs 50, 52 move in the same direction and the cuts 54 are arrangedsuch that the projections produced in the web 50 point in the directionof movement of the web, whilst the projections produced in the web 52point in the direction opposite the direction of movement. To produce asupport, a support member a support member from the web 50 is broughtinto opposed relationship with a support member from the web 52. It willbe appreciated that by having the projections of the two webs pointingin opposite directions, the two support members can readily be broughtinto opposed relationship to produce a support having its twoprojections pointing in opposite directions without any complicatedturning movements. It will also be appreciated that although, the websare shown moving in an edge-to-edge relationship which would requirerotation of at least one of the support members about its longitudinalaxis, the webs could be cut whilst running in a face-to-facerelationship so that subsequent to the cutting process, all that wouldbe required is to move the opposed faces of the web into contact withone another.

The support members from the two webs may be secured to one another byheat sealing. Preferably, at least one side of the webs from which thesupport members is made is coated with a heat sealable material so thatsealing process simply involves pressing the two members together andapplying heat to obtain a seal. Alternatively, a hot melt adhesive maybe painted onto one or both webs in a suitable pattern to produce therequired arrangement of seals. A further alternative is to apply anadhesive such as a food compatible paste to one of the webs.

The cutting process may be partial so that the respective supportmembers of the two webs are finally separated from one another at anassembly position downstream of the cutting position.

An alternative support for the infusion package and a method ofmanufacture therefor will now be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and8.

Referring to FIG. 7, an alternative support 70 for the infusion package,comprises integral support members 72. The support members haveprojections 74 and recesses 76 corresponding to the projections andrecesses of the support members 72 and are made from a single web 78(FIG. 8) of plastics coated board folded about its longitudinal axis 80so as to have a generally U-shaped cross-section.

As shown in FIG. 8 the support members 72 of the support 70 are producedby making transverse cuts 82 in the web 78 at intervals corresponding tothe desired length of the support members. The transverse cuts extendfrom one side of the web to the other and each defines the end of onesupport 70 and the end of the following support so that the projectionsproduced at each end of the support are produced by the cuts which alsoproduce the recesses in the adjacent end of the neighbouring supports.Subsequent to the cutting operation, the support members are broughtinto an opposed relationship to define the U-section support by foldingthe web about its axis 80. The support members can then be secured toone another by sealing or gluing as described above.

It will be appreciated that the closed top of the support 70 preventsspillage of the infusible material contained in the bag. The support mayformed with perforations 84 to permit the top to be removed to allowwater to be poured onto the infusible material. Alternatively, in amanufacturing process in which the support 70 is secured to the bagbefore the bag is filled with the infusible material, the perforationscan be used to permit the top of the support to be removed to allow adose of the infusible material to be dropped into the bag through thesupport. It will be appreciated that in such a process, a zone ofweakness provided by, for example score-lines as shown in FIG. 1, isrequired to permit the support members to bow outwardly in response tosuitable manipulation or the application of a suitable force to producea suitable opening through which the infusible material can pass.

It will be understood that the support 70 can be pivoted relative to thebag in the same way as the support of the infusion package 10.

1. A method of manufacturing an infusion package comprising aporous-walled container for an infusible substance and a support memberfor said container by means of which the container can be mounted on arim of a drinking vessel, said method comprising (i) making cuts in atleast one web of a semi-rigid material in a direction transverse to theweb length to define a plurality of support members, each of said cutsdefining a first end of one said support member and a second end of anadjacent said support member such that said first end includes aprojection extending in a longitudinal direction of said one saidsupport member and said second end includes a recess extending in alongitudinal direction of said adjacent support member, the cutting ofwhich recess produces said projection; (ii) bringing two said supportmembers into opposed relationship with the first end of one said supportmember disposed opposite the second end of the other said member; (iii)positioning an end region of a said container between said opposedsupport members; and (iv) securing said end region to said opposedsupport members.
 2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein saidprojections correspond in shape to said recesses.
 3. A method as claimedin claim 1, comprising providing each said support member with a zone ofweakness intermediate said first and second ends.
 4. A method as claimedin claim 3, wherein said zone of weakness is provided by a score-lineextending parallel to said ends.
 5. A method as claimed in claim 4,wherein said container is a bag having an opening at one end and saidopening is defined by said end region.
 6. A method as claimed in claim4, comprising making said cuts in two said webs, wherein said onesupport member is defined by making said cuts in a first of said twowebs and said other support member is defined by making cuts in a secondof said two webs.
 7. A method as claimed in claim 6, wherein said websmove in a common direction and said cuts in said first web are arrangedsuch that said projections project in said common direction and saidcuts in said second web are arranged such that said projections projectin a direction opposite said first direction.
 8. A method as claimed inclaim 1, said support members are integral, said cuts being made in asingle web which is folded so as to provide a fold that extends along alongitudinal axis thereof to bring said integral support members intosaid opposed relationship.
 9. A method as claimed in clam 8, comprisingproviding perforations in the region of said fold.